Houthi Assault, Unclaimed Ship Attack Follow Saudi Coalition’s Naming of Hodeidah as Strike Target
Yemen's Houthi movement launched its deadliest ground assault in years near Hodeidah on July 5, and an unclaimed attack on a cargo ship followed within a day. The rapid escalation on both land and sea came just 24 hours after Saudi Arabia's coalition publicly named Hodeidah's port among the targets it would strike if Houthi "provocations" continued. The sequence began on July 3, when Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree threatened a "comprehensive response targeting airports and vital interests on land and at sea," after accusing Saudi warplanes of trying to block an Iranian civilian flight from landing in Sanaa. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki answered the next day, warning of "unprecedented determination and force" against any attack on the kingdom and naming Hodeidah port, the Ras Isa oil terminal, as-Salif port, and Sanaa International Airport as infrastructure now exposed to potential strikes, according to Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. Roughly…
Blasts Rock Damascus During President Macron Visit
Two improvised explosive devices detonated in central Damascus on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, wounding at least 18 people, including four police officers, according to Syria's Interior Ministry. Macron was unharmed, and no group immediately claimed responsibility. The explosions occurred near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Macron had been staying, and close to the Ministry of Tourism. Macron had already departed for the presidential palace when the devices exploded, and the French presidency said his official programme continued as scheduled. Damascus-based security analyst Ismat Al-Absi told Al Jazeera it remained unclear whether the attack was intended to target Macron's convoy, adding that the apparent objective was to create insecurity and send a political message rather than inflict mass casualties. Tuesday's explosions came five days after a bombing at a café on al-Nasser Street killed at least nine people and wounded 22, the deadliest attack…
Azerbaijan’s assets hit by Russian attack on Ukraine
Azerbaijan summoned Russian Ambassador Mikhail Yevdokimov on July 6 and handed him a protest note over a July 5 drone strike on a fuel station belonging to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, Reuters reported. The Foreign Ministry said the recurrence of such attacks “indicates the deliberate nature of these attacks.” Two Shahed drones struck the SOCAR station in the village of Nechaiane, around 30 kilometers from Mykolaiv on the road to Odesa, at 19:16 and 19:33 on July 5, Ukrainska Pravda reported. The strikes damaged the station’s administrative building; no injuries were reported. Baku said the attack was not isolated, citing earlier strikes on a SOCAR gas compressor station and an oil depot in Odesa, as well as damage to Azerbaijan’s embassy in Kyiv and honorary consulate in Kharkiv, Reuters reported. The ministry called on Russia to meet its Vienna Convention obligations. Russia…
Ukraine Launches Large-Scale Drone Incursion Against Moscow
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 430 drones flew toward the Moscow region overnight from July 6 to July 7, in what TASS calculations described as one of the largest attacks on the Russian capital area in two years, Kyiv Post reported. Sobyanin said most drones were intercepted on “distant approaches,” with 36 destroyed closer to Moscow. Russia’s Defence Ministry said air defences downed 452 Ukrainian drones across Russian regions overnight. Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports operated under coordinated restrictions, while Zhukovsky airport suspended flights entirely. The reported wave followed two escalations on July 6. Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv and the surrounding region; Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the Kyiv city death toll had risen to 19 by July 7, with search-and-rescue under way in Darnytskyi district, while Kyiv Oblast separately reported eight dead, Euromaidan Press reported. The same day, Ukrainian drones struck the Omsk refinery, Russia’s…
Russia Scrambles Su-57 to Hunt Ukrainian Drones Over Omsk
A Russian Su-57 fighter was photographed over Omsk during a Ukrainian drone strike on the city's oil refinery, Russia's largest, on July 6, according to the Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+, a claim not yet independently corroborated by wire services or Russian officials. The same channel reported that Russia also scrambled an A-50U airborne early warning and control aircraft. If true, that raises a real question: why commit a large-area radar platform, designed to manage an entire air battle, to intercepting a handful of drones headed for one city? One plausible answer is a gap in ground-based radar coverage over Siberia, a region that has never needed dense air-defense infrastructure because no threat had ever reached it. That remains speculative, but it's the kind of gap this sighting, if confirmed, would point to. Whatever flew that day, it didn't work. Ukrainian drones struck the ELOU-AVT-11 primary crude distillation unit at the…
At Least 330 Children Killed or Injured in Sudan in 2026 as Drone Attacks Intensify
At least 330 children were killed or injured across Sudan during the first six months of 2026, UNICEF said on Monday, warning that a surge in drone attacks – particularly in North Kordofan – is driving an increasingly deadly toll on civilians. UNICEF said the figure reflects verified child casualties and is likely an undercount, as insecurity continues to prevent independent monitoring across large parts of the country. Darfur and Kordofan recorded the highest numbers of verified child casualties. The agency described the situation in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, as especially alarming. Since May, at least 18 children have been killed and more than 17 injured in the city, ranging in age from two months to 17 years. According to UNICEF, drone strikes accounted for roughly 60 percent of those casualties, highlighting the growing impact of unmanned aerial warfare on civilians. Sudan's war between the Sudanese Armed…
